Corona Devo 1685
Have you ever made tea (iced or hot) with loose tea leaves? The fave flavor for my husband and I right now is cinnamon-orange, and I make a pitcher-a-week that we enjoy very much.
But almost more than I enjoy the taste of the tea (and it's tasty!)...I love watching the tea leaves dance and dart and dazzle around the pitcher when I first pour the kettle of boiling water over.
Initially covering the bottom of the pitcher in stillness, those tea leaves come alive for a few seconds when the boiling water wakes them.
Each time I make a pitcher of (loose) tea, I think with excitement: I want that to be me, Lord.
Me for Jesus. Me in my faith. Me in my hope. Me today for the Lord.
Delighting in Him.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. ~Psalm 37:4
Darting and dazzling around in our lives for Him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. ~Isaiah 59:17
Coming alive for Him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ~2 Corinthians 5:17
This is the electricity of knowing and living for Jesus! Of course we are not electrified-in-motion for Him every day, but ahhh, the days that we are can seem just like we are a tea leaf energized by the Holy Water of Jesus being poured over us!
The Book of Acts in the Bible talks a lot about new Believers because this was the time of birth for God's (new) church, which included any Jewish person that received Him, but also every non-Jew (Gentile) too. And as Gentiles heard the teaching and salvation of this Savior named Jesus...they reacted just like tea leaves being doused with boiling water!
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (43) Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. (44) All the believers were together and had everything in common. (45) They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. (46) Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, (47) praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. ~Acts 2:42-47
It sounds glorious and delicious, doesn't it?
Let's live it today.
~~~
A guy named Paul in the New Testament used to hate people who loved Jesus, and Paul was known for breathing out murderous threats (and more) against the Lord’s disciples (Acts 2:1).
But one day Paul had "an encounter" as he was heading to Damascus to persecute more people who had a zest for Jesus. God met Him, and Paul had a heart transplant right there on that dusty road to Damascus.
He was changed. He was different. And he began living with a zesty zeal for God, one that might make us think of some dry tea leaves having a pot of boiling water poured over them:
Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. (20) At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.
(21) All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”
(22) Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah..
(26) When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
(27) But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
(28) So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
(29) He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him...
(31) Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. ~Acts 9:19-22, 26-31
~~~
I love holding hands with my husband. I love coffee. I love seeing my kids do/say/write and become just exactly who God has planned-out for them to be. I love many things in this life.
But more than I enjoy the taste of all of these earthly delights, I love Jesus.
I love seeing Him move and reign over my life and in the lives of His children. Reading God's Word, being a part of His church, sharing His hope and truth: these things makes me want to dance and dart and dazzle around this brief lifetime that He has blessed me with.
Join me today, won't you?
And we can begin with a glass of iced cinnamon-orange tea.
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
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